Rookie Corey Linsley will get the start at center for the Green Bay Packers in Thursday night’s season opener against the Seattle Seahawks.

The fifth-round pick out of Ohio State will get the call due to a knee injury to starter J.C. Tretter that will keep him out for the start of the regular season. In addition to dealing with the raucous crowd at Seattle’s CenturyLink Field, Linsley will have to matchup against Seattle nose tackle Brandon Mebane for the majority of the evening.

“If I’m a rookie and I’ve got Brandon Mebane my first game – he’s one of the best nose tackles in the league – it’s going to be big for him,” Irvin said. “I’m gonna pray for him. It’s going to be a long night, man.”

The last time the Packers traveled to Seattle in 2012, the Seahawks sacked Aaron Rodgers eight times in the first half. Mebane and Irvin both picked up two sacks apiece that night against Green Bay.

Mebane is one of the more underrated nose tackles in the game and is a key piece in Seattle’s defensive front. With a rookie lining up across from him, the Seahawks hope to take advantage of Linsley’s inexperience.

“We’ve just got to take advantage of it,” Irvin said. “All the weaknesses he shows us, we have to expose it and hopefully [Mebane] gonna do what I know he gonna do to him.”

Irvin says he expects to play against the Packers as well Thursday night. He missed the entirety of the preseason while recovering from offseason hip surgery. He returned to practice this week.

Weird. I just read some trash talking quotes about Randall Cobb from something called Jeremy Lane…a CB who has a total of 4 passes defensed, 0 INT’s, 26 tackles…..and then I read this garbage from another guy on the team who is a part-time playing 1st round draft bust.

It’s amazing how much winning only 1 Super Bown in franchise history makes people talk crazy. I guess it’s different when you play for a team that needs more than 2 hands to count their championships. The expectations are higher……

Seattle players seem to be like people who came into new money. It never ends well…..

This guy never speaks and when does gets baited into bulletin board material ! C’mon Bruce get your mind in the game and don’t give them motivation . Seattle should win by over two tds but pissing people off won’t make that easy .

Seattle 34-14 GB scores first then gets clobbered all game until the end when they get a garbage td to make The game look close .

No one wins in Seattle prime time , that’s why the SB champion team only got one ( opening game which has to be prime time ) game at home. Prime time in Seattle means blowout Seahawks win . Eddie lacy will have less than 50 yards rushing .

He will be too busy being busted in the mouth by lacy and Co. to do any sort of harm to be worth “praying for”. All the b.s. stops at kickoff. Enough talk. Its time to play one of the most anticipated openers in recent memory.

Yes, Bruce… I’m sure the same way that the two All-Pro Defensive Ends for the Packers are lickin’ their chops at facing a rookie Tackle and Russell Okung, a former all-pro who looked very slow against the Raiders as he comes back from offseason surgery.

We should pray for Aaron Rodgers. Besides Jordy Cobb and Clay, he’ll be doing it all by himself again. Ted Thompson is the most overrated GM in all of sports. Without ARod, that’s one of the least talented teams in the NFL.

That is a great quote from Bruce Irvin! Experienced centers have struggles at Century Link with the noise alone. Now deal with Brandon Mebane who is maybe the best nose tackle in football. Tony McDaniel got some wiggle and when they kick Michael Bennett inside on in that nickel packages is where this defense is flat out nasty.

Do the Packers still have that turnstile who let them get 8 sacks on Rodgers in the first half 2 years ago? I forget his name, but I remember his whining in the locker room…as though his failure to perform had nothing to do with their loss.

Sounds like some Seattle players are treating this game like it’s the Super Bowl..
Well I don’t expect GB to win… they are playing the SB Champs on Thursday night primetime, in Seattle. You know a lot of NFL people don’t want to see them lose, at home, in front of their own fans, on national TV. The NFL would feel cheated if they lost.

It’ll be interesting to see who among you will acknowledge how wrong you were come Thursday night. Rodgers is going to light that idiot Sherman up and this time they will get the win instead of being robbed of it.

I think Rodgers is going to have one of those games where he has an answer for everything they throw at him. The Packers no-huddle offense will pose a nice test for the over-confident Seahawks defense.

Irvin, you are an illiterate embarrassment to anyone who has made it past the second grade. Go back to the school that let you in just to prop up their football team, and actually go to a class this time. Even though the NFL does not want the seahags to lose, a loss would be justice for an ignorant fool like you.

Tampa Bay & St. Louis both rushed for more than 200 yards against Seattle last year. Frank Gore rushed for over 100 yards on only 17 carries. None of those teams had a quarterback like Rodgers to go along with that attack.

Good luck stopping Lacy – dude’s a sledgehammer. Will open up all kinds of things in the passing game. Tough place to open & tougher place to win, but stupid comments coming from their players make me think this is a game ripe to be won.

I think this is going to be a much tougher test than what most of these “fans” think it will be.

“Oh, he’s back at tackle, huh?” the 2012 first-round pick said. “I’m not going to throw no crazy words out there. But I’m preparing, we’re preparing. We’re looking at the film from 2012 as well as the film from the preseason. So we’re just getting ready and hopefully the same results as two years ago.

Here’s Irvin’s quote about Bulaga from the Journal Sentinel. I’m pretty sure if Bruce was actually watching film, he’d know who he’s supposed to line up against tomorrow night. Yikes.

Ok, so the seahawk players are as annoying as their fans. Good to know.

I guess when you’ve just won the one Super Bowl, it’s hard to exhibit the kind of grace and sportsmanship that I expect out of my Packers. Of course, after having won 13 World Championships, they are a little more used to success than the seahawks are.

I hope McCarthy just cancels the team charter to Seattle because they have no shot at this one. I think we should just forfeit the game because the Packers are going to get trampled 56-0 anyhow so why take the chance?

Why would the Packers cancel the team charter to Seattle when there won’t be scab refs officiating this game? In reality, the Packers have never lost at Qwest/CLink field. Unless you count the fraud win from 2 years ago.

OMG i can’t wait till this game kicks off, the fans of these 2 teams are making me laugh!!!!
I do have 1 idea for the players just shut up and play!!!!!
For the fans get em yall are so tuff on the internet just let the teams play this is a new year congrats to the Seahawks they won LAST YEAR everyone is 0-0 right now so lets play some darn football!!!!!

Bitter queen trolls have 50% of posts because they are owned by the Packers and a farm team for the Seahawks. Can life be any more miserable for a fan of that franchise specially considering the marquee game is two of the most talented and popular? Have they even had a primetime game in the last 5 years?

Seahawks have a new fangled offense that the league has yet to defend. Question marks are the defensive line, the will and physical capability of Marshawn…will the offensive line be good enough to protect Wilson, who after last year was one of the most sacked QB’s in the league due to injuries to the OL at mid season….or will adrenalin and pride of winning the organizations long awaited SB be enough to make them rise above first game disorganization? Questions everywhere from a Hawks fan….

Wish our backups would learn to keep their mouths closed. At least Sherman knows to only talk trash after the game is over.

That said it is going to be crazy loud in the Clink and Rogers and Linsley haven’t played a snap in a game together yet so it should be interesting to see how that goes. Feel confident saying that Rogers is better than Manning though and probably won’t watch the first snap sail over his head.

Cheeseheads are going to be in for a big surprise when the kid from Wisconsin tears them up Thursday night. In fact, most of the NFL will finally quit calling him a game manager. DangeRuss for the win! The Hawks D won’t matter.

This game features the 2 best QBs in the league, and 2 RBs around the 4-6 range. I expect both QBs will make a lot of great plays. They were both considered game managers after a few years as starters, but people who know football know better. It’ll be interesting to see. I hope the refs don’t become the focal point, like in this preseason.

I am looking forward to this game. I think that the Packer offensive line is vastly under estimated. The line played well the second half of last season, and looked unstoppable this preseason.

The first string offense cut through the Rams defense each of their two possessions. A team that many regard as having one of the best front sevens in the league (if not the best). They put up 22 points before half time on the Raiders (I know it’s preseason).

I think the combination of Lacy and Rodgers may give the Seahawks trouble. If Lacy runs well from the start how will that effect that cover 3 defense.

I think this will be a great match up. I think the Packers will surprise many in the national audience that normally don’t follow the Packers.

I know how Seahawk fans feel. Most Packer fans thought that the Packers were unstoppable in 2011, after coming off of their last Super Bowl victory.

But, what do I know. My opinion is a good as anyone else’s at this point in the season.